Just 72 hours after launching the fundraising campaign, “Light a Lantern for Wuhan,” the NYU Shanghai community raised more than US$50,000 (RMB 350,000) to support relief efforts in the city of Wuhan and Hubei province, which have been hit hardest by the novel coronavirus epidemic.
More than 700 individual donors – students, faculty, staff, family members and friends - made contributions totaling US$30,000/RMB210,000, which triggered a match of US$20,000/RMB140,000 from an anonymous donor and friend of the university.
“We’re joyful to see our fundraising has been welcomed with enthusiasm by the whole NYU community,” said co-organizer Leon Ding ’22.
Students embraced the campaign as soon as it was launched, plugging the campaign on Instagram, Facebook, Wechat and Weibo. “Thousands of people saw our campaign advertised and contributed to our fundraising. I was so touched to see people stand firmly together and show unparalleled unity,” said co-organizer Michael Liu ’22. “I want to shout out loudly: This is what NYU Shanghai community can do!”
Donations ranged in size from 10 RMB to 10,000 RMB and were made to a variety of organizations supporting the Wuhan community, including Give2Asia, the One Foundation, Shanghai Community Fund, and GlobalGiving. One NYU Shanghai alumnus donated US$53,000 in medical supplies.
“Right now, the NYU Shanghai community is spread across China and around the world, so I’m excited that we were able to reach our goal and come together as a community despite our temporary separation,” said co-organizer Amy DeCillis ’20.